Vienna
I was very sick when I first arrived at Vienna and so I
didn’t move from my bedroom properly for two days and when I did venture the
aromas of food on the Christmas markets made me gag. Lots of smoked and fried foods like the potato rostis’s, snitzel, brockwurst sausages and sourkraut. Not an ideal diet
when you have a delicate tummy.
However, when I did finally feel better I took a tour of the
imperial palace, once home of the Emperor and his Empress Elizabeth. It read a very sad
story and I have the book at home to read, but basically in the nineteenth
century any aristocratic female who had beauty and accomplishment was in firing
line of the future Kings lustful advance. Sadly Elizabeth, from Bavarian stock
loved nothing more than to hunt on her father’s land and rarely dressed
appropriately for occasion or for her stature. 
The King shows up to check out
big sister, but think Liz is way hotter so whisks her off to Vienna to make his
Queen. Once incarcerated for the rest of her life there she developed eating
disorders and she was probably the first recorded case of Anorexia Nervosa. Her
servants were horrified when she had gym type apparatus were erected in her
private apartments so she could exercise vigorously every day. 
There were a few
of her outfits on display in glass cabinets and her tiny physique was
extraordinarily thin. I bet I could have put my hands around her waist and my
fingers and thumbs touch. There were rumours that she only ate raw meat and
blood which I found an interesting concept to look into for my own Horror books
one day and I'd also like to revisit Vienna and see the sights I didn't get chance to the last time I was there.
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